Domino's Pizza customers have shown how generous they can be by donating to the Northern Ireland's Children's Hospice (NICH), via Pennies, the electronic charity box. Since October 2011, Domino's customers have been able to round up their online orders and donate this money to the NICH, with a fantastic £5000 being raised in just over a year.

The NICH cares for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and supports their families and those close to them. Care is provided across Northern Ireland.

To celebrate the occasion, the local Domino's Pizza store in Glengormley decided it was time for Danny Domino, Domino's Pizza's official mascot, to pay the children a visit and brighten up their day. Danny Domino came bearing gifts as he turned up with some DVD's for the children to watch in their day room. Christmas also came early for the staff as the team brought along some hot, fresh pizza for them to enjoy.

Amit Abhol, Deputy Operations Manager for Domino's Pizza in Northern Ireland, said: "We are very grateful to our customers for donating their loose change. It is fantastic that in just over a year we have raised £5,000 for the NICH. I hope our customers will continue to be as generous over the coming year as their pennies really do make a difference to these children."

Alison Hutchinson, CEO of Pennies, said: "Domino's customers have made an incredible contribution to the Pennies movement from day one. It is brilliant to see their generosity making a real difference to the young patients at NICH and their families."

Ellen Hillen, Corporate Fundraising Manager for the NICH said: "We are thrilled with the donation we have received from Domino's Pizza customers. All those pennies really do add up and the money raised is being put to good use, caring for children with life-limited and terminal illness."

Next time you order a Domino's pizza online why not donate your loose change to charity? Just log onto http://www.dominos.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Domino's Pizza Group plc is the leading player in the fast-growing pizza delivery market and holds the exclusive master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino's Pizza stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. The first UK store opened in Luton in 1985 and the first Irish store opened in 1991. In April 2011, the Group acquired a majority stake in the exclusive master franchise to own, operate and franchise Domino's Pizza stores in Germany. In September 2012, the Group acquired the master franchise for Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein and an option to open stores in Austria prior to the end of 2014.

As at 24 September 2012, there were 770 stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany and Switzerland. Of these, 597 stores are in England, 51 are in Scotland, 30 are in Wales, 20 are in Northern Ireland, one is on the Isle of Man, one is a mobile unit, 48 are in the Republic of Ireland, 10 are in Germany and 12 are in Switzerland.

Founded in 1960, Domino's Pizza is one of the world's leading pizza delivery brands. Through its primarily franchised system, Domino's Pizza operates a global network of more than 10,000 Domino's Pizza stores in 73 international markets. Domino's Pizza has a singular focus - the home delivery of pizza, freshly made to order with high quality ingredients.

The Pennies Foundation, a registered charity, has created Pennies, the electronic charity box. We're all familiar with the idea of dropping our change into the charity box sitting on the shop counter. The electronic charity box is exactly the same idea but it works instead when we pay by card in store, online and via mobile.

Pennies makes giving to charity easy and affordable for all: customers can simply press 'YES' on the Chip & PIN machine in-store, or click the 'Donate' button online or on the smart device. The request is for micro-donations - literally a few pennies (1p-99p) - either by rounding up or topping up. It's quick: one small step in the payment process, it's the consumers' choice and it's private too. There's no pressure or commitment to give and every penny goes to charity.

Micro-donations are powerful. There are 43 million card holders in the UK today, and around 1 million card transactions an hour. If the UK's card holders donated 30p once a month well over £150m would be raised for charity every year.

Pennies is available in a range of national retailers as well as many local merchants and charity shops. Momentum is growing as more and more retailers join the Pennies movement. So far Pennies has received more than 3.6m consumer donations raising nearly £1 million for charity. Pennies' retailer partners include DFS, Domino's Pizza, Drake & Morgan, Gieves & Hawkes, Monarch Airlines, Party Pieces, Screwfix, The Entertainer, The Fragrance Shop, Travelodge, Zizzi and many more merchants which are listed on Pennies' website.

The Northern Ireland Children's Hospice cares for children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions, and supports their families and those close to them.

There are over 850 life-limited children and young people living in Northern Ireland. Each year Northern Ireland Children's Hospice helps around 250 families and also support 150 bereaved families. Demand for the services is growing and they want to help more families and make this essential service even more accessible to those who need it most.

Life- limiting illness includes conditions such as Muscular Dystrophy and genetic disorders such as Batten's Disease, and life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease.

A life-limiting condition can be very difficult to come to terms with both emotionally and practically. That is why Northern Ireland Children's Hospice is so important for the community. It provides the support that families and children need when they find themselves in this situation. Emotional support to come to terms with a diagnosis or bereavement and practical support to nurse a sick child whether it is respite or end of life care, care in Hospice or care at home.

These children have very complex needs often requiring 24 hour care and unfortunately many will die before reaching adulthood.

Caring for a life-limited child puts an enormous strain on family life and for some families; holidays, family activities and outings prove difficult or impossible. Meal times become staggered, sleep is often interrupted and parents rarely have time to themselves. Siblings of the sick child inevitably feel left out as parents often provide 24-hour care for the life-limited child. At times, families can feel overwhelmed by their situation, both physically and emotionally.

The children's hospice helps by providing care, support and friendship to the whole family, throughout the child's illness and after the child has died.

The children's hospice is situated in Newtownabbey, overlooking Belfast Lough. In addition to purpose built children's accommodation, there are family rooms, art and music rooms, play areas, a multi-sensory room and a hydrotherapy pool. Offering a home from home environment, Horizon House is a place where children and their families feel safe, welcome and supported.

The community team operates throughout Northern Ireland providing respite and end of life care in the child's own home. The team also provide a 24-hour, 7 day a week on call service for families.

It costs Northern Ireland Children's Hospice £3m each year to provide its services and they depend on the generosity of the general public, legacies and corporate supporters. Every penny is gratefully received and will go towards providing much needed care for life-limited children.

Nerdio is an IT-as-a-service platform with virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) technology at its core. It is designed for IT departments that need a way to easily manage their ever-increasing workloads. Nerdio allows users to efficiently manage their complete IT environments by giving...

Reality itself is going through a digital transformation thanks to leaps in 3D rendering and the crunch-speed motion feedback data. Although the modern definition of virtual reality (VR) has been making promises for three decades, the emphasis was always on the potential. Now it’s here...

Modern organizations typically use several IT tools to monitor their applications, networks and other IT components in real time. Unfortunately, this leads to independent data islands, which creates a one-dimensional view of IT. In order to make strategic decisions, organizations need ...

The holiday shopping season, a time when Americans flock to the malls or online to find those must-have gifts, is about to kick off. Kids are pouring over catalogs and compiling their wish lists, adults are looking at the Black Friday ads to find the best bargain, and retailers are hop...

It is not often that movies and television shows give viewers the opportunity to explore the world of hacking and digital security in a realistic manner. After two seasons, "Mr. Robot" has attracted its share of IT professionals as well as average citizens. The show has offered numerou...